Scenes of panic took place at Wong Tai Sin MTR Station on Sunday evening after an escalator jammed and was brought to a jarring halt as it carried commuters to the Wong Tai Sin Shopping Centre exit.
At around 7:00pm, foot plates atop the escalator steps warped and became stuck at the top of the machine, Apple Daily reported, citing a witness who added that the crashing foot plates produced a loud sound.
Eight to nine people standing on the escalator at the time ran back down after the machine stopped, some of them screaming, “escalator have broken again, run!” a woman who saw the incident told the newspaper. The witness said she was on the escalator leading down to the station from exit D at the time.
Startled commuters then rushed to inform MTR staff of the incident whilst others blocked the entrance and warned fellow commuters not to use the broken escalator. No one was injured in the incident.
MTR staff arrived about one minute later and closed off the area. The machine is now under repair as the train operator investigates the cause of the breakdown.
Sunday’s incident was the second escalator malfunction to hit the MTR in four days. Last Thursday, broken metal components flew out of an escalator at Quarry Bay Station after the machine was jammed by a screw.
